ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Human Rights Act

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cases have been brought against her Department under the Human Rights Act 1998; and what has been the cost in (a) legal fees to defend cases and (b) compensation payments.

Elliot Morley: We do not collect records of all cases in which the Human Rights Act 1998 is relied on. Human rights are now integrated in the general law and are rarely the sole basis for a challenge. We do monitor centrally those cases which we consider may be of particular significance to this department. We have recorded 5 cases to date.
	We do not collect separate information centrally about the costs to public funds, legal fees or compensation payments in cases which include a human rights issue. In most cases it will be difficult to single out associated costs relating to human rights elements.

Bovine TB

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the recently diagnosed cases of bovine TB in herds in Denbighshire, Powys and Monmouthshire; and what steps her Department is taking to control further spread of mycobacterium bovis infection.

Elliot Morley: Powys and Monmouthshire have suffered a number of TB incidents in recent years. In the first three months of this year raw data show there were 37 new incidents in Powys, 20 of which are provisionally confirmed as due to bovine TB.
	Raw data show that in Monmouthshire some 36 new incidents were disclosed in the first three months of the year, of which 19 are provisionally confirmed as bovine TB.
	One new confirmed bovine TB incident was recently disclosed in a herd in Denbighshire. Investigations into the origin of this incident are still ongoing.
	The State Veterinary Service in Wales, in close consultation with the Welsh Assembly Government, is working to clear the TB test backlog, to restrict the movement of cattle off herds with suspected TB and to target resources effectively.
	The causes of bovine TB are complex and the Government is seeking to proceed on the basis of sound science drawn from independent scientific and veterinary experts. A wide-ranging research programme has been put in place on advice from the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG). The programme extends to the pathogenesis of TB in cattle, improved diagnostic techniques, vaccine development, the badger field trial, risks to cattle from wildlife other than badgers and a study looking at TB in newly formed herds following restocking after foot and mouth disease.

European Commission

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) formal and (b) informal meetings her Department has undertaken with the European Commission since 1 January; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and her Ministerial colleagues meet the relevant Commissioners at meetings of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment Councils. In addition, the Secretary of State has met bilaterally with Commissioners Fischler (twice), Byrne, Wallstrom, Kinnock and Patten. I have met Fischler once during the period mentioned. The number of contacts between officials of the Department and representatives of the Commission, in the wide range of fora where they meet, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Flooding

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by what criteria flood defences are graded in terms of being (a) maintained at their current level or (b) in need of enhancement.

Elliot Morley: Operational responsibility for planning, design, construction, maintenance, inspection and operation of flood defence measures rests with local operating authorities (the Environment Agency, Local Authorities and Internal Drainage Boards). The operating authorities determine which flood defences should be maintained at their current level and which are in need of enhancement. Efforts are being made to collate such information on a National Flood and Coastal Defence Database.

Flooding

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps are being taken to ensure (a) detailed mapping of areas at risk from flooding, (b) that insurance companies recognise the difference in flood risk within post-code areas and (c) that households are graded in accordance to direct risk.

Elliot Morley: The Environment Agency has published indicative flood maps and has made these available to local authorities. Copies have recently been made available to Members of Parliament in England and Wales showing the indicative flood risk areas in their constituency. Smaller scale versions are also available to the public via the Internet. The Department is in discussion with the Agency to further develop this mapping and is currently funding work that will improve the information available. Discussions continue with both the Agency and ABI to improve the information available for assessing insurance risk.

Flooding

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many (a) homes and (b) commercial properties are at risk from coastal or inland flooding in (i) England, (ii) the South East and (iii) East Sussex; and what the total value of assets are.

Elliot Morley: The 2001 National Assessment of Assets at Risk from Flooding and Coastal Erosion, commissioned by DEFRA, estimated figures for areas at risk of flooding by regions of the Environment Agency; the Agency have provided a further breakdown for East Sussex.
	The estimated figures for the whole of England, for the Southern Region of the Environment Agency and for East Sussex are as follows:
	
		
			  England Southern Region East Sussex 
		
		
			 Homes at risk of flooding 1,670,000 152,000 23,500 
			 Commercial properties at risk 128,000 14,000 2,100 
			 Estimated total value of assets at risk £200,000 m £18,400 m £2,850 m

Flooding

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to fund the repairs to flood defence systems identified as Government targets following the Bye report into the 1998 floods.

Elliot Morley: The Government drew up High Level Targets for Flood and Coastal Defence in 1999 in liaison with local operating authorities (the Environment Agency, Local Authorities and Internal Drainage Boards). The targets are intended to facilitate a more certain delivery of national policies and objectives for flood and coastal defence. However operational responsibility for planning, design, construction, maintenance, inspection and operation of flood defence measures rests with the local operating authorities.
	I understand that the Environment Agency has repaired flood defences damaged in the 1998 floods, has carried out some improvements and is considering other improvements where they meet the normal economic, technical and environmental criteria.
	Funding from this Department for capital works to all operating authorities has increased from an outturn of £73 million in 1998–99 to a planned £114 million in 2003–04.

Flooding

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if resources will be made available to improve the accuracy of the Environment Agency's maps and website relating to flood risk assessments.

Elliot Morley: The Department is in discussion with the Environment Agency to further develop the indicative flood plain maps, copies of which have recently been made available to Members of Parliament in England and Wales, local authorities and, the general public (via the internet). DEFRA is currently funding work that will improve the data available. More detailed information will be available (as hardcopy and via the internet) in the Autumn.

Trawling

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will take steps to ensure that the National Environment Research Council fund research into deep seabed impacts by trawling.

Elliot Morley: The Office of Science and Technology within the Department of Trade and Industry is the responsible body within Government for the allocation of funds to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for scientific research, not DEFRA. Within the budget provision from OST NERC is funding a programme of research into the ecology of deep sea fish and the impact of deep-water fisheries on both commercial and non-target species. DEFRA has in the past funded research at NERC's marine laboratories on a wide range of subjects, and also liaises with NERC over the development of its thematic programmes. DEFRA is funding an extensive programme of research at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Acquaculture Science and several other institutes into fishing impact on the seabed, but focussing on coastal rather than deep waters.

Trawling

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to prevent trawling damage to seabed communities.

Elliot Morley: The Department is currently looking to establish Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas to extend the EC Habitats and Birds Directive beyond 12 nautical miles with a view to protecting vulnerable habitats and species. One potential site is an area of coral reef off the North West coast of Scotland known as the Darwin Mounds thought to have been subject to damage by trawl gear. We will work to get the Commission to bring forward the necessary legislation to restrict fishing activity where a habitat is in need of protection but is situated in international waters. More generally, one of our priorities for the forthcoming review of the Common Fisheries Policy is the greater integration of environmental concerns into fisheries policy: this will involve action to reduce the impact of fishing on non target species and sensitive habitats.

Rural Subsidies

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what total sums of public money, unavailable to urban areas, were paid in each of the past four years to rural areas in all forms of subsidies, compensations, concessions and reduced charges.

Alun Michael: It is difficult to draw an absolute line between urban and rural areas. Support for farmers will be available to farmers within a mainly urban area, for instance. It must also be remembered that these figures represent targeted funds. Other finances are targeted at purposes relating mainly or wholly to urban needs.
	The following table provides information on the total public expenditure on UK agriculture in each of the past four years.
	
		
			 £ million 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 UK Public expenditure under CAP & on national grants and subsidies 3,482 3,161 3,014 3,227 
			 (b) Foot and Mouth disease costs [of direct benefit to the agriculture sector] — — 29 2,028 
			 (c) Total 3,482 3,161 3,043 5,255 
		
	
	In addition UK agriculture benefits from red diesel and other concessions. These are broadly estimated to be worth £300m per year.
	Beyond agriculture there are other forms of support for rural areas unavailable to urban areas. The following table provides details of public expenditure for relevant programmes for rural areas in England (as defined by the Countryside Agency definition).
	
		
			 Programme £ million 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 Rural Transport(1) 2.3 3.3 4.6 6.0 
			 Community Services Grant(2) — — — 1.7 
			 Parish Transport(2) — — — 0.4 
		
	
	(1) This includes the Rural Transport Partnership and Rural Transport Development Fund, which include funds for linking rural and urban areas. In 1999 the Countryside Agency took over the role of the Rural Development Commission, which administered these funds.
	(2) Part of the Countryside Agency Vital Villages programme, which first reported in 2001–02.
	In addition there is rate relief for a number of rural businesses, including village shops, post offices, public houses and garages in rural communities of less than 3,000 inhabitants.
	There are a number of other programmes that have specific rural targets but are also open to urban areas. These include Parish Plans, funded by the Countryside Agency, and programmes of the Regional Development Agency and Housing Corporation.

Pets

Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to regulate the sale of (a) cats and (b) dogs in pet shops.

Elliot Morley: There has been a review of animal welfare legislation relating to farmed, captive and domestic animals, including the regulation of companion animal sales. A public consultation exercise ran from 2 January to 30 April. We will now evaluate the 2,400 responses we received and then decide on what changes need to be made.

Whales and Whaling

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the 1946 International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling.

Elliot Morley: The Government's policy on whaling remains unchanged. We are opposed to all forms of whaling other than some limited subsistence whaling; and we strongly support the International Whaling Commission's moratorium on commercial whaling.
	I am planning to attend the next annual meeting of the Commission which takes place from 20–24 May in Shimonoseki, Japan where the UK will resist any attempts to lift the moratorium.

Whales and Whaling

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the natural reproduction rate is of (a) Minke whales and (b) Sperm whales; and what her Department's estimate is of the rate of change in their global populations if these whales continue to be hunted at current levels.

Elliot Morley: Minke whales can normally reproduce every 1–2 years and Sperm whales every 4–5 years. It is not possible to estimate the effects of current whaling activities in terms of the rate of change in global populations.

Whales and Whaling

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her Department's assessment is of the world's population of (a) Minke whales and (b) Sperm whales.

Elliot Morley: There is considerable scientific uncertainty over the numbers of whales of different species and in different geographical stocks. The International Whaling Commission (IWC), which is the primary international body responsible for the management and conservation of whales, estimated that (a) in 1995 there were approximately 149,000 Minke whales in the North Atlantic (excluding Canadian East Coast) and (b) in 1990, approximately 25,000 Minke whales in the North West Pacific and Okhotsk Sea. The IWC Scientific Committee is currently carrying out a major review of Minke whales in the Southern Hemisphere as no reliable estimate is available.
	There is no current assessment of the population of Sperm whales.

Sheep Identification

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she intends to introduce new regulations in respect of sheep identification and traceability.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 8 May 2002
	The Interim Animal Movements Regime introduced in February 2002 makes provision for the identification and tracing of sheep and goats. We will be reviewing experience with these interim controls in the next couple of months with a view to making any necessary changes in late summer. Later in the year we will also need to consider any recommendations on identification and traceability that emerge from the independent inquiries into the foot and mouth outbreak, and possible proposals from the European Commission on identification of sheep.

Sheep Identification

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to provide financial support for research into electronic means of identification of sheep.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 8 May 2002
	There are no current plans to commission research into electronic means of identifying sheep (EID) in England. However, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre has recently completed a major four-year programme of practical trials of EID in cattle, sheep and goats to test feasibility, including practicality and animal welfare. The UK government is working closely with the EC-Joint Research Centre to learn from this experience.
	We are also making practical use of EID technology as part of the NSP.

Foot and Mouth

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much money has been paid to farmers in compensation for slaughtered livestock arising from the recent foot and mouth epidemic to date; what is (a) the average amount paid to each farmer and (b) the largest payment to a single farmer; and if he will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: £1,050m has been paid to farmers in compensation for slaughtered livestock arising from the recent foot and mouth epidemic to date, and the average amount paid to each farmer was £124,755. The largest payment to a single farmer was £4,238,800.

Dolphins

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will publish the results of her Department's surveys on board UK pair trawlers to establish how many dolphins were killed per 100 net hauls; and if she will make a statement.

Elliot Morley: holding answer 15 April 2002
	Observations by the Sea Mammal Research Unit during 2000 and 2001 were as follows:—
	
		
			 Target species No. of dolphins No. of hauls No. of days at sea 
		
		
			 Anchovy 0 3 3 
			 Blue whiting 0 4 8 
			 Herring 0 42 33 
			 Mackerel 0 27 64 
			 Pilchard 0 8 6 
			 Sprats 0 10 10 
			 Bass 53 116 71 
		
	
	These figures indicate a significant problem in the bass fishery off south west England but not in other fisheries sampled. Those pair trawling teams monitored in the bass fishery caught dolphins at a rate a little in excess of one every two hauls. This is a cause for serious concern, and we have drawn the attention of the EU Commissioner and the French Fisheries Minister to it.
	SMRU have also completed an initial trial in the bass fishery of special gear designed to allow dolphins to escape. Information on this will be published as soon as it is available.

Affordable Housing

Colin Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list by category, the number of key sector workers living in affordable housing in rural areas in each of the last 10 years.

Sally Keeble: I have been asked to reply.
	Information is not available in this form.

WORK AND PENSIONS

New Deal

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people living in the London Borough of Wandsworth have taken up the New Deal options.

Nick Brown: The information is in the tables.
	
		New Deal for Young People
		
			  Option Number of people in London Borough of Wandsworth taking up an option (up to January 2002) 
		
		
			 Employment 99 
			 Full Time Education and Training 459 
			 Voluntary Sector 157 
			 Environment Task Force 85 
			 Total 800 
		
	
	
		
			 New Deal 25 Plus (Pre-April 2001 Programme)* Option Number of people in London Borough of Wandsworth taking up an option (up to January 2002) 
			 Employment 53 
			 Full Time Education and Training 85 
			 Work Based Learning for Adults 268 
			 Total 406 
		
	
	
		New Deal 25 Plus (Post-April 2001 Programme)*
		
			  Option Number of people in London Borough of Wandsworth taking up an option (up to January 2002) 
		
		
			 Employment 1 
			 Basic Employability Training/Basic Skills 11 
			 Self Employment 8 
			 Education and Training Opportunity 0 
			 Work Experience/Placements 1 
			 Intensive Activity Period Training 43 
			 Other 0 
			 Total 64 
		
	
	Source:
	New Deal Evaluation Database
	* In April 2001 New Deal 25 Plus was enhanced to provide more flexible, individually-tailored help for long term unemployed people.

Access to Work Scheme

Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how Access to Work has been promoted (a) in the UK and (b) in Edinburgh East and Borders.

Nick Brown: holding answer 7 May 2002
	Access to Work was promoted through the Employment Service. Since the start of April responsibility for promoting Access to Work passed to Jobcentre Plus. Jobcentre Plus promotes awareness of the whole range of its services, including support available to disabled people and their employers, through media such as leaflets, audio tapes, videos and the Jobcentre Plus website.
	In Scotland, the Access to Work Business Centre Manager and Access to Work Advisers take part in events with General Practitioners and at job fairs and give presentations to employers and interested organisations.
	Employment assistance schemes in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Access to Work Scheme

Archy Kirkwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the (a) budget, (b) actual and (c) estimated outturn has been of the Access to Work scheme (i) in the UK and (ii) in the Edinburgh East and Borders district, in each year since creation.

Nick Brown: holding answer 7 May 2002
	The information available is in the table.
	
		
			  BudgetActual Spend  
			
			 Year England, Scotland and Wales Edinburgh East and Borders(3) England, Scotland and Wales Edinburgh East and Borders 
		
		
			 2000–01 £25.7m Not available £32.4m £1.2m 
			 1999–00 £24.3m Not available £24.4m £620,847 
			 1998–99 £19.0m Not available £19.5m £379,975 
			 1997–98 £19.0m Not available £14.6m £320,123 
			 1996–97 £19.0m Not available £12.5m Not available(4) 
			 1995–96 £13.4m Not available £19.9m Not available(4) 
			 1994–95 £14.6m Not available £15.7m Not available(4) 
		
	
	Source:
	DWP Access to Work Management Information
	(3) Before 2001, Access to Work was delivered through a network of Disability Service Teams in Scotland. Because of several boundary changes over the course of the last few years, these figures have not been collected separately. The information could therefore be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	(4) Figures on actual spend for Edinburgh East and Borders can only be provided as far back as the 1997–98 financial year.
	(5) Employment assistance schemes in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Action Team for Jobs

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many unemployed people have received support through the Action Teams for Jobs initiative; and how many found work as a consequence of the initiative.

Nick Brown: Action Teams for Jobs are set up to tackle the problems of endemic joblessness in the most employment deprived areas in the country. Up to the end of February 2002, Action Teams for Jobs had engaged with 62,506 eligible jobless people and helped 23,745 of them into work. The Teams have also helped a number of people living outside their areas that are not recorded in the statistics.

Employment Zone Scheme

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are involved in (a) stage 1 and (b) stage 2 of the Employment Zone scheme in each of the 15 Employment Zone areas.

Nick Brown: The information is in the table.
	
		
			   Number of current participants (at 31 January 2002)  
			 Employment Zone Step 1 Step 2 
		
		
			 Birmingham 2,225 2,423 
			 Brent 424 380 
			 Brighton 238 349 
			 Doncaster 587 531 
			 Glasgow 776 768 
			 Haringey 935 1,154 
			 Liverpool 1,422 2,628 
			 Middlesbrough 219 319 
			 Newham 528 825 
			 North West Wales 460 335 
			 Nottingham 194 226 
			 Plymouth 166 232 
			 Southwark 682 933 
			 Tower Hamlets 347 313 
			 Heads of the Valleys 170 356 
			 TOTAL 9,373 11,772 
		
	
	Source:
	Employment Zone Management Information.
	Employment Zones vary in size and coverage.

Employment Zone Scheme

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been (a) budgeted and (b) spent on the Employment Zone scheme in each year since its introduction; and how much of the allocation in each year went into personal job accounts.

Nick Brown: The Department does not receive information from contractors on the specific amounts spent on personal job accounts. This is because funding for the personal job account is drawn from the overall payments made to the contractors. Expenditure on personal job accounts by contractors varies according to the needs of each participant.
	In the financial year April 2000–March 2001, the Employment Zone budget was £56,374,000 and the spend was £71,950,885.
	For the financial year April 2001–March 2002 the budget was £87,026,000. Forecast expenditure will be published in the Departmental Report in May.
	Reasons for the differences between the spend on Employment Zones and budget include better than anticipated performance by Zone contractors and more participants entering the programme earlier than forecast.
	The budget for 2001–02 includes funding for those who joined Employment Zones during the year and have not yet completed Steps 1 and 2.

Employment Zone Scheme

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have been helped into sustained employment via the Employment Zone scheme (a) in each year since its introduction and (b) broken down according to each employment zone.

Nick Brown: Between April 2000, when they were launched, and January 2002, Employment Zones have helped 20,850 people into work. Of these, 14,743 have been helped into sustained employment.
	The information on each Employment Zone is in the table.
	
		
			  Employment Zone Number of people helped into sustained employment (cumulative total up to 31 January 2002) 
		
		
			 Birmingham 2,708 
			 Brent 690 
			 Brighton 859 
			 Doncaster 480 
			 Glasgow 1,730 
			 Haringey 1,847 
			 Liverpool 1,693 
			 Middlesbrough 615 
			 Newham 867 
			 North West Wales 246 
			 Nottingham 333 
			 Plymouth 466 
			 Southwark 1,136 
			 Tower Hamlets 602 
			 Heads of the Valley 471 
		
	
	Source:
	Employment Zone Management Information
	Employment Zones vary in size and coverage

Pensions

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when private sector providers who wish to make combined pensions forecasts available to prospective pensioners will be able to do so; and what information on forecasts is available to them.

Maria Eagle: The combined pension forecasting service was launched in October 2001 at the industry's annual Pensions Show. Since that date the service has been open to all pension providers to register their interest in participating.
	The service is delivered on a voluntary basis through employers and pension scheme providers with the consent of individual customers.
	Customer Account Managers organise publicity of the service at industry conferences and seminars. Additionally, they support individual providers who have expressed an interest in joining the new service through one-to-one presentations and guide them through the formal registration process.
	Explanatory information leaflets and guides, have also been produced for distribution to providers these are: CPF1—Take part in combined pension forecasting, CPF2—A guide to combined pension forecasting and CPF3—Combined pension forecast: Technical guide.

Pensions

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list those employers and pension scheme providers who have participated in pilot exercises to inform the design and development of combined pensions forecasts; and if he will make sample statements available in the Library.

Maria Eagle: Pilot exercises were conducted with the following seven companies:
	Sainsbury's
	Emap
	Prudential
	Axa/Sunlife
	Merseyside Pension Fund
	Department for Work and Pensions
	National Provident Institute
	A sample statement from the Prudential has been placed in the Library.

Pensions

David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to inform employees whose employers have switched from final salary pensions to money purchase schemes about the impact of such changes.

Maria Eagle: Pension schemes are set up voluntarily by employers and they decide what the provisions of those schemes should be. Once a scheme is established scheme trustees are required to provide members with basic information about the scheme, including what benefits are payable and how those benefits are calculated. If employers choose to switch from a final salary to a money purchase scheme, the Government believes employers have a responsibility to make it clear to their employees if contribution rates change and what the implications of that are for their future pension provision.

TRANSPORT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE REGIONS

Directly Elected Mayors

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much the research on Public Attitudes to Directly Elected Mayors by IFF Research Ltd, published by his Department on 14 December 2001 cost; and when the research was delivered to his Department.

Alan Whitehead: The research on Public Attitudes to Directly Elected Mayors, commissioned to find out more about how the public perceived directly elected mayors and to establish the level of interest in local democracy generally, involved fieldwork by IFF Research Ltd, which cost £103,650, and analysis and publication by my Department. The survey data was delivered to my Department on 25 September 2001, and after analysis was published on 14 December, a date which was outside any period for restricting publicity prior to a mayoral referendum.

Fire Service

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the starting salary of a fireman is in (a) London and (b) the rest of England; and when this salary will next increase.

Alan Whitehead: The starting salary for a firefighter aged 18 in London is £20,111 rising to £20,897 after six months. Firefighters over 18 in London start on £20,378 rising to £21,152 after six months.
	Outside London the starting salary for a firefighter aged 18 is £16,941 rising to £17,727 after six months. For those over 18 the starting salary is £17,208 rising to £17,982 after six months.
	After four years a firefighter in London will be on £24,701 and £21,531 outside London.
	Under the national pay agreement between local authority employers and the Fire Brigades Union the operative date for pay increases for firefighting staff is 7 November.

Fire Service

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to increase the pay of fire service personnel.

Alan Whitehead: The Government has no statutory role in the determination of fire service pay. Pay arrangements are negotiated between the local authority employers and the representatives of the staff concerned.

Fire Service

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the shortfall is in the number of firemen in the UK; and what measures he plans to introduce to increase numbers.

Alan Whitehead: Based on figures taken from annual returns HM Fire Service Inspectorate, the difference between establishment and actual strength of whole-time and retained firefighters in England and Wales as at 31 March 2001, the most recent figure available, was as follows:
	
		
			  Establishment Actual Shortfall 
		
		
			 Whole time 33,640 33,376 264 
			 Retained 14,940 12,028 2,912 
		
	
	Recruitment and increases in firefighter numbers are a matter for local fire authorities.

Fire Service

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many fire stations have (a) closed, (b) opened and (c) had improvements made to them since 1997.

Alan Whitehead: This information is not collected centrally. Information on the number of fire stations in each fire authority in England and Wales at 1 January for each year from 1997 to 2002 was given in my right hon. Friend's reply to a Question from the hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. Theresa May) on 19 March 2002, Official Report, columns 239–242. On the basis of these returns, six fire stations have closed and five fire stations have opened since 1997. However, these figures may not include instances where the opening of a fire station is balanced by the closure of another in the same authority within a particular year.

Local Authority Services

Julie Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps he is taking to ensure that district authorities have the flexibility to fund and deliver high quality public services to local people.

Alan Whitehead: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke) on 7 May 2002, Official Report, column 26W.

Bus Workers (Safety)

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will require the Health and Safety Executive to take steps to improve the safety at work of bus workers.

Alan Whitehead: Bus workers, in common with all other workers are protected by the general provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and related legislation. The priorities for HSE are set out in the Health and safety Commission's Strategic Plan 2001–04. There are no specific plans to target the safety of bus workers at this time.

Rural Bus Challenges

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to extend rural bus challenges to non-road transport; and what his reasons for his policy are.

Sally Keeble: We have no plans to extend the rural bus challenge scheme to non-road transport. The scheme's focus on buses, and other road public transport, recognises that in the overwhelming majority of cases throughout the country they will be the means of meeting public transport needs in rural areas.

Mineral Planning Guidance

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  what plans he has to issue new guidance on aggregates as a technical note to Mineral Planning Guidance Note 1;
	(2)  when he plans to review the guidance in Mineral Planning Guidance Note 6;
	(3)  whether minerals planning authorities may deviate from the production levels set in Mineral Planning Guidance Note 6, with particular reference to paragraph 105 of MPG 6.

Sally Keeble: Following public consultation on principles to be adopted in planning for the future supply of aggregates in 2001, revision of MPG6 was in progress at the time that the Government decided to proceed with the Planning Green Paper. Work on MPG6 was put into abeyance so that any new guidance could conform with decisions to be taken in the light of consultation on the Planning Green Paper. The Green Paper proposed that priority should be given to revising MPG1, dealing with guidance for all types of mineral working, and suggested that MPG6 should be replaced by a technical note in support of MPG1.
	Subject to an announcement on the conclusions of the Planning Review, work is in hand to publish a consultation draft revision of MPG1 in the Autumn of 2002, with draft supplementary advice on aggregates following early in 2003. Meanwhile, as a matter of priority, work is proceeding to update the national and regional quantitative guidelines for aggregates provision, at present in the 1994 edition of MPG6, with a view to consulting on these in mid 2002.
	The supply guidelines in MPG6 have always been flexible. Paragraph 26 of MPG6 makes it clear that "If circumstances change, requiring a change in assumptions, the provision to be actually made can be adjusted. Consequently the figures contained in these Guidelines are not targets but are indicative figures for the purposes of preparing development plans and the administration of development control." In addition, paragraph 58 of MPG6 makes it clear that the regional guidelines "provide an indication of likely demand but the apportionment figure should not be regarded as inflexible".
	"The preparation of development plans provides an important opportunity to test the practicality and environmental acceptability at the local level of the Guidelines figure. The provision to be made in each plan will need to be justified not only in relation to this Guidance, but also in relation to all other relevant considerations affecting planning for the area". In line with paragraph 105 of MPG6, the regional guidelines should always be subject to local review and updating in the light of local circumstances. The forthcoming publication of revised forecasts and guidelines will provide a good opportunity for authorities to do this in reviewing and updating their mineral development plans.

Mineral Planning Guidance

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what discussions he has had with West Sussex County Council on the provision of new aggregate sites at (a) Funtington, (b) Oving and (c) Duncton.

Sally Keeble: No such discussions have taken place.

Mineral Planning Guidance

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the status is of planning policy guidance and mineral planning guidance notes issued by his Department.

Sally Keeble: Planning Policy guidance and minerals planning guidance notes set out the Government's policies on different aspects of planning and minerals issues. Local and mineral planning authorities must take them into account, where relevant, in preparing their development plans. It has also been established that such guidance may be material to decisions on individual planning applications and appeals, depending on the circumstances of each case.

Telephone Kiosk Advertising

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he will announce the outcome of the consultation exercise on the future treatment of telephone kiosk glass advertising in the regime for the control of advertisements; and if he will make a statement.

Sally Keeble: Existing planning rules do not address telephone kiosk glass advertising, which is a relatively new form of advertising. The issue raises a wide range of considerations including visual amenity, highway safety, public safety and crime, and the cost and other resource implications of formal regulation. The consultation paper which we issued on 11 July 2001 invited views on possible options for clarifying the position. I am grateful to all those who took the trouble to respond.
	We have carefully considered the responses received and the range of factors involved. We have concluded that kiosk glass advertising should benefit from deemed consent but subject to certain conditions and limitations. This will mean that, subject to meeting conditions and limitations relating to geographical coverage, illumination and size of advertisement, such advertisements may be displayed without the express approval of the local planning authority. The siting of kiosk glass advertisements in conservation areas, areas of outstanding natural beauty, National Parks and the Broads will require the express consent of the local planning authority, as will advertising on more than one face of a kiosk.
	We believe that this approach strikes a strikes a fair balance between the need to preserve and where possible enhance the character of the environment and the public realm, the need to ensure public safety, and the business needs of industry, including payphone providers and advertisers. It is designed to resolve the current uncertainty, and promote a consistent approach, by providing an appropriate degree of control but without excessive and burdensome statutory regulation.
	Provisions to give effect to these changes will be set out in the new Advertisement Control Regulations due to come into force in the Summer.

Homelessness

Michael Jabez Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he will bring into force the new homelessness legislation in the report "More than a Roof"; and what resources will be provided to ensure its effective implementation.

Sally Keeble: The homelessness report, "More than a roof', was published on 13 March. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out his response to that report on 13 March in the reply he gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Wigan, Official Report, column 1091W. Together, those documents set out a new approach to tackling homelessness, one that focuses as much on people and the problems they face, as on the places in which they live. New legislation is a key part of this new approach.
	The Homelessness Act 2002 received Royal Assent on 26 February. The Act will strengthen the safety net which local authorities provide for people who are homeless, or threatened with homelessness. It will, for the first time, place a new duty on local authorities to conduct a review of homelessness and develop, in consultation, a strategy to meet the housing and support needs of all homeless people in their district. It will also ensure that people are given greater choice in applying for social housing.
	We will be making an Order later this Session to bring the main homelessness provisions of the Act into force in July.
	We will also be laying an Order for approval by Parliament to extend the groups of people who have a priority need for accommodation under the homelessness legislation. This will ensure that vulnerable homeless people leaving institutions, young people including those leaving care, and people fleeing domestic, racial and other forms of violence get the help they need. We intend, subject to Parliament's approval, to bring these changes into force in July, at the same time as the main provisions of the Homelessness Act 2002.
	We will also issue revised statutory guidance on homelessness in June, up-dated to reflect the new legislation.
	Section 8 of the Homelessness Act 2002, which provides for applicants to seek a review of the suitability of accommodation offered by a local authority as a settled solution to homelessness, and paragraphs 3 and 7 of Schedule 1 of the Act, came into force on 26 February. Interim statutory guidance has been issued to housing authorities in respect of these provisions.
	We will also be issuing in the next few weeks a draft of the code of guidance on allocation of accommodation for a twelve week consultation period. Following that consultation, we plan to issue the revised statutory code in the Autumn, with the provisions on allocations in the Homelessness Act 2002 coming into force from January 2003.
	In order to help local authorities and other agencies to implement these changes effectively, the Government has increased the resources available for housing, homelessness and support services.
	In addition to this increased investment, an extra £8 million has been added to local authorities' Revenue Support Grant settlement from 2001–02 to cover the additional duties imposed by the new homelessness legislation.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said in his response to "More than a roof" that we would provide additional resources to enable local authorities to deliver the new Priority Needs Order. I can confirm today that we will be providing £10 million for this purpose in 2002–03, from a total of £125 million being provided specifically to tackle homelessness. The extra £10 million will be allocated to local authorities by the new Homelessness Directorate in my department following consultation with the Local Government Association on the most appropriate method of distribution.
	The Homelessness Directorate is working with local authorities and other key agencies to ensure that the new legislation—and the Government's new approach to tackling homelessness—is implemented efficiently and effectively to make a real difference to the lives of homeless people.

Housing Definitions

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what definition he uses of the terms affordable housing and social housing; and if he will make a statement.

Sally Keeble: Social housing normally refers to subsidised housing provided by local authorities or registered social landlords for rent. For the purposes of securing affordable housing through the planning system, affordable housing encompasses low-cost market and subsidised housing, whether for rent or shared ownership, that will be available to people who cannot afford to rent or buy houses generally available on the open market. Local authorities are expected to define in their local plans what they consider to be affordable in the plan area, in terms of the relationship between local income levels and house prices or rents for different types of households.

Key Worker Housing

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions 
	(1)  if he will set out his definition of key workers in the public services for the purposes of providing Government land for pre-fabricated key worker housing;
	(2)  what proportion of the housebuilding targets in each county will be provided by prefabricated key worker housing;
	(3)  if the named planning rules will apply to the development of pre-fabricated key worker housing;
	(4)  if the public land to be made available for the provision of pre-fabricated key worker housing will include land owned by (a) Government departments, (b) local authorities and (c) Government agencies;
	(5)  if he will list those organisations to whom free public land will be made available for the provison of pre-fabricated key worker housing;
	(6)  if he will list the sites of Governerment land that will be made available for the provision of pre-fabricated key worker housing.

Stephen Byers: The Government recognises that there is an urgent and growing need to assist the number of keyworkers and others on intermediate incomes who cannot afford to rent or buy in high demand areas where house prices have risen sharply over the last few years. We are looking at a number of options for helping overcome this problem, including the potential to increase housing supply by using surplus public sector land of all types for affordable housing and by using modular unit construction techniques as illustrated by the Peabody Trust scheme at Murray Grove, Hackney. These techniques offer significant time savings and potential cost reduction. Normal planning rules have applied to recent modular developments.

DEFENCE

Depleted Uranium

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the UK sites where armour piercing and hard target penetrating warheads containing depleted uranium have been used, indicating the numbers used on each site in each year since 1990.

Lewis Moonie: Since 1990, Depleted Uranium (DU) has been fired on the ranges at Kirkudbright, Eskmeals and West Freugh.
	Details of the amount of DU fired are as follows. Because of the way in which data was collected at each establishment the figures for Kirkudbright and West Freugh are given in terms of numbers of rounds fired whereas the Eskmeals data is quoted in mass (Kg) of DU:
	
		Kirkudbright
		
			 Year Rounds 
		
		
			 1990 783 
			 1991 666 
			 1992 781 
			 1993 682 
			 1994 458 
			 1995 286 
			 1996 105 
			 1997 734 
			 1998 134 
			 1999 136 
			 2000 270 
			 2001 126 
			 TOTAL 4,378 
		
	
	
		Eskmeals
		
			 Year Mass Kg 
		
		
			 1990 1,520 
			 1991 640 
			 1992 1,076 
			 1993 917 
			 1994 512 
			 1995 520 
			 1996 0 
			 1997 0 
			 1998 0 
			 1999 0 
			 2000 0 
			 2001 0 
			 TOTAL 5,170 
		
	
	West Freugh
	Approximately 215 rounds of the Phalanx weapons system were fired in 1990, all of which entered the sea 2km below low-water mark. There have been no DU firings since.
	Errors have unfortunately been identified in the figures for DU projectiles fired at the Kirkudbright Training Area given in the responses on 5 December 2001, Official Report, column 342W, to the hon. Member for Galloway & Upper Nithsdale (Mr. Duncan) and on 14 June 2000, Official Report, column 644W, and 19 June 2000, Official Report, column 27W, to the then hon. Member for Galloway & Upper Nithsdale (Mr. Morgan). It is unclear how these inconsistencies occurred but it is possible the source figures came from data for planned firings rather than actual firings or there may have been a simple miscalculation. The above figures correct these errors.

Colchester Garrison

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the development of the new Colchester Garrison.

Adam Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 May 2002, Official Report, column 40W, to the Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin).

Helicopters

Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress with trials of the Army's Apache AH Mk 1 attack helicopter.

Lewis Moonie: Trials of the Apache WAH64 Attack Helicopter are progressing satisfactorily. Delivery of an initial operational capability to the army, consisting of the first operational Apache Squadron, is expected in August 2004.

Helicopters

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what savings accrued to the Defence Budget from the reduction in the planned order of Merlin helicopters.

Lewis Moonie: There have been no reductions in planned orders of Merlin since the Strategic Defence Review.

West Freugh Airfield

Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many air traffic movements were reported at West Freugh airfield in each of the last 12 months.

Lewis Moonie: The following aircraft movements took place at West Freugh in each of the last 12 months.
	
		
			 Year Number 
		
		
			 April 2001 300 
			 May 2001 470 
			 June 2001 256 
			 July 2001 391 
			 August 2001 310 
			 September 2001 231 
			 October 2001 166 
			 November 2001 276 
			 December 2001 633 
			 January 2002 143 
			 February 2002 232 
			 March 2002 367 
		
	
	These figures do not include overflights or range runs.

Deployments

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many service personnel are serving with (a) BDLS Washington and (b) BATUS Suffield, broken down by service;
	(2)  pursuant to his answer of 16 April, Official Report, column 825W, on deployment, what account was taken of army personnel serving with (a) BATUS Suffield and (b) BDLS Washington.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 2 May 2002
	The answer my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (Mr. Ingram) gave on 16 April 2002, Official Report, column 825W, showed the total number and location of armed forces personnel deployed overseas on military tasks and operations only.
	No account was taken of army personnel serving with (a) BATUS Suffield and (b) BDS Washington as neither of these are military tasks or operations.
	The figures for those currently serving with BATUS Suffield are as follows:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 Permanent Staff 207 
			 Temporary Staff (summer training staff) 180 
			 Canadian Military Staff 103 
			 Total Personnel* 490 
		
	
	*All Army Personnel.
	The figures for those currently serving with BDS Washington are as follows:
	
		
			  
		
		
			 Naval Service 18 
			 Army 16 
			 RAF 12 
			 Total Personnel 46 
		
	
	These figures reflect service personnel serving in the British Defence Staff at the British Embassy in Washington (including Attaches). They do not include service personnel in exchange, liaison or project staff appointments. In organisational terms BDLS Washington no longer exists and is replaced by BDS Washington.

Gibraltar

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many military personnel were stationed in Gibraltar in (a) October 2000, (b) April 2001, (c) October 2001 and (d) April 2002.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 7 May 2002
	The number of military personnel stationed in Gibraltar is as follows:
	
		
			 Year Personnel 
		
		
			 October 2000 585 
			 April 2001 591 
			 October 2001 600 
			 April 2002 564 
		
	
	These figures include UK-based military personnel stationed on Gibraltar and regular members of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment.

Medical Downgrading

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the reason underlying the number of service personnel who are medically downgraded; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 7 May 2002
	There are many reasons for Service personnel being medically downgraded on either a temporary or permanent basis. Personnel who are temporarily downgraded have incurred an injury or developed a medical condition for which they are receiving or awaiting treatment or are recuperating. Servicewomen who are pregnant or have recently given birth are also temporarily medically downgraded. Personnel who have a long term medical condition which prevents them from undertaking their full range of duties, but which allows them to be retained with limited employability, are placed in a permanently downgraded category.
	Work is currently in hand in the Ministry of Defence to develop improved analysis of the causes of medical downgrading. This will enable us to ensure that we are adopting the most effective means of prevention and treatment wherever these are appropriate.

Medical Downgrading

Paul Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Royal Navy are in the medical categories (a) baby, (b) PO, (c) P2, (d) P2X, (e) P2U3, (f) P2L3, (g) P3R, (h) P3P, (i) P7RA, (j) P7RB, (k) P7RC, (l) P7RD and (m) P8; in each case what percentage of (i) establishment and (ii) actual manning this represents; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 7 May 2002
	I refer the hon. Member to my letter of 19 April, a copy of which was placed in the Library of the House. The Royal Navy only has figures for the total number of medically downgraded personnel, and a comparison with the Establishment, which includes only trained posts, would not be valid. "Baby" is not a medical category but an administrative one used when a woman declares her pregnancy; she is then included in the P3R Medical Category. P2L3 and P2U3 are administrative categories used in training, and personnel in these categories are fit for service world-wide.
	The number of personnel in the Medical Categories listed and the percentage they represent of the Total Strength is set out on the following table:
	
		
			 Medical Category Total per cent of Total Strength 
		
		
			 PO 119 0.28 
			 P2 38,346 90.41 
			 P2X 9 0.02 
			 P3P 383 0.90 
			 P3R (including "Baby") 354 0.83 
			 P7RA 298 0.70 
			 P7RB 66 0.15 
			 P7RC 62 0.14 
			 P7RD 1,525 3.59 
			 P8 68 0.16 
		
	
	
		
			 Medical Category Total per cent of Total Strength 
		
		
			 P2L3 844 1.99 
			 P2U3 56 0.13

ASRAAM

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what savings to the Defence Budget accrued from the delay in the delivery of the ASRAAM missile.

Lewis Moonie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 1 February 2002, Official Report, column 601W, when I informed the House that the delay in the ASRAAM In-Service Date had cost the Ministry of Defence approximately £7 million. The MOD has collected liquidated damages from the contractor, on the basis of terms agreed at the time of contract signature. Liquidated damages are paid to the MOD in respect of the loss and damage caused by the late delivery of the missiles; this includes both the MOD's additional costs and the loss of capability. Accordingly, although the amount of liquidated damages received from the company exceeds £7 million, the MOD does not regard this as a saving.

Retention

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what was the average length of service by new recruits in each regiment since 1990; and if he will provide a breakdown of the results of exit interviews with personnel over the most recent period for which figures are available.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 9 May 2002
	The average length of service on Outflow for trained Officers and soldiers since Financial Year 1990–1991 is detailed in the following table:
	
		Officers
		
			 Financial Year Mean Length of Service on Outflow 
		
		
			 1990–1991 12 Years 9 Months 
			 1991–1992 10 Years 2 Months 
			 1992–1993 15 Years 10 Months 
			 1993–1994 13 Years 10 Months 
			 1994–1995 13 Years 2 Months 
			 1995–1996 11 Years 11 Months 
			 1996–1997 12 Years 1 Month 
			 1997–1998 13 Years 2 Months 
			 1998–1999 13 Years 9 Months 
			 1999–2000 14 Years 10 Months 
			 2000–2001 14 Years 10 Months 
			 2001–2002 15 Years 10 Months 
		
	
	
		Soldiers
		
			 Financial Year Mean Length of Service on Outflow 
		
		
			 1990–1991 8 Years 8 Months 
			 1991–1992 8 Years 11 Months 
			 1992–1993 10 Years 9 Months 
			 1993–1994 11 Years 10 Months 
			 1994–1995 10 Years 9 Months 
			 1995–1996 9 Years 3 Months 
			 1996–1997 8 Years 10 Month 
			 1997–1998 9 Years 9 Months 
			 1998–1999 9 Years 9 Months 
			 1999–2000 10 Years 
			 2000–2001 9 Years 10 Months 
			 2001–2002 9 Years 8 Months 
		
	
	The above information is not restricted to new recruits as to do so would provide no meaningful information. New recruits would obviously have a shorter reckonable service than those that joined in 1990 as, by definition, they will have had less time to accumulate service. The information provided allows for a valid time series comparison to be made. To provide a breakdown of this information by Regiment could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	Information gathered at exit interviews is recorded on the Continuous Attitude Survey; however, the Survey is anonymous so it is not possible to attribute information to any particular Regiment or individual. The last full leavers survey conducted covered the period July–December 1999; questionnaires are still being returned for the latest Survey so data has not yet been analysed.
	The main reasons for leaving were identified as follows:
	Lack of job satisfaction
	Amount of separation from spouse/partner
	Better civilian job opportunities outside
	Effect of Army lifestyle on marriage/relationship
	If stayed longer it would be difficult to start a new career
	Compassionate reasons.

Hydrographic Office

Nick Palmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what key targets have been set for the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office for the financial year 2002–03.

Lewis Moonie: The key targets set for the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office for the Financial Year 2002–03 are as follows:
	Publish 100 per cent of priority safety information within the stated timescales from receipt of the original data.
	Deliver Defence specific outputs as defined in the Tasking Authorisation Forms. All agreed outputs delivered to time and quality.
	Improve completeness and delivery of orders. 90 per cent of orders shipped to schedule and 95 per cent line completeness at first despatch by year end.
	Deliver immediate and medium term change projects to ensure the long-term viability of the Office.
	Break even taking one year with another and return an average Return on Capital Employed over the Plan period of 7.5 per cent.
	Achieve efficiency measure of 5 per cent growth in "Value Added" per member of staff (based on FY 2000–01) by FY 2005–06.

Offshore Wind Farms

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has made and to whom against proposals for offshore wind farms off (a) Cromer and (b) the coast of Lancashire; and if he will make a statement.

Lewis Moonie: The Ministry of Defence has made known its objections to these offshore windfarm proposals to both the Department of Trade and Industry and to the developers concerned. Discussions continue with the developers.
	London Power's proposed site off Cromer is close to the Cromer Air Defence Radar and therefore the MOD has objected because the siting of wind turbines close to such installations can produce false returns on radar screens.
	The proposed sites off Lancashire by Shell and Energie Kontor lie within 15 miles of the airfield at British Aerospace Systems Ltd Warton and give rise to similar issues of potential radar interference.

Basic Training Costs

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost is of basic training for one enlisted recruit in the British Army.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 9 May 2002
	In the Financial Year to 31 March 2002, the estimated cost of basic training for one recruit to the British Army was £11,000.

Drug Tests

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) drug tests, (b) positive results of drug tests and (c) subsequent dismissals there have been in the British Army, broken down by (i) regiment and (ii) division in the last five years.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 9 May 2002
	I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Naval Vessel Sales

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many naval vessels have been sold in the last five years; and what records are retained.

Lewis Moonie: holding answer 9 May 2002
	103 surplus former Naval vessels have been sold in the last five years via the Ministry of Defence's Disposal Services Agency (DSA). This figure includes named capital ships, minor vessels and marine support vessels. Detailed records for the last five years of all surplus transactions are retained by the DSA. There was also one Upholder Submarine sold during this period. This was the responsibility of the MOD's Upholder Programme and records would be retained by that MOD branch.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum Seekers

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 19 October 2001, Official Report, column 1394W, on asylum seekers, when he will place the letters from Merseyside Police concerning asylum seekers in Everton, Liverpool in the Library.

Angela Eagle: Further to my Answer of 27 February 2002, Official Report, column 1397W. The letters were placed in the Library on 18 March 2002. I apologise to my hon Friend for the administrative delay that occurred.

Asylum Seekers

Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what performance indicators and output targets are used by the National Asylum Support Service to measure the efficiency of its service to asylum seekers and other stakeholders; and how the NASS is performing against these performance indicators and output targets.

Angela Eagle: The National Asylum Support Service (NASS) measures its performance against challenging targets. Targets are set for individual areas of work. Details of targets for the main areas of work are as follows:
	
		
			 Area of work Target Current performance 
		
		
			 Response to enquiries about vouchers 24 hours Met in 100 per 
			 cent of cases 
			 Single additional payment and replacement of HC2 certificates 5 days in 90 per cent 
			 of cases Target met 
			 Post allocation work (including requests for payment of maternity grant and inclusion of additional dependants) 10 days in 90 per cent 
			 of cases Target is met in 11 of 13 
			 different work 
			 areas. 
			 Change of circumstances i.e. request to change from subsistence only to subsistence and accommodation 10 days in 90 per cent 
			 of cases Target met 
			 Assessment of non complex applications for support 3 days in 90 per cent of cases Target met 
			 Turnaround time for subsistence only applications 5 days in 90 per cent of cases Target met

"Supporting Families"

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Stafford (Mr. Kidney) of 4 December 2001, Official Report, column 231W, when the report on progress towards the recommendations in the Supporting Families document will be placed in the Library.

Angela Eagle: A progress report on the issues raised in the Supporting Families document was placed in the Library today.

Animal Experiments

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to bring forward regulations on (a) mandatory investment by commercial companies into the development of non-animal alternatives to animal testing and (b) over-breeding of animals for experiments.

Angela Eagle: The Government does not believe that setting mandatory requirements for investment into research into alternatives to the use of animals in scientific procedures is either desirable or necessary.
	Nonetheless, every year the Home Office makes available to the Animal Procedures Committee (APC) a budget for research aimed at developing or promoting the use of alternatives which replace animal use, reduce the number of animals used, or refine the procedures involved to minimise suffering (the three Rs). Details of completed research projects are published in the annual Report of the Animal Procedures Committee, which is available from The Stationery Office.
	The amount made available to the Committee for 2001–02 for this specific purpose has increased to £280,000. However, this is not the only money spent by the Government on seeking to develop alternatives, as other Departments also fund such work. It is estimated that the total spent on this by the United Kingdom Government is in the region of £2 million each year. Industry also spends many millions of pounds each year on the search for and development of alternatives. To take this further on an international level, the United Kingdom Government will continue to support the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) through contributions to the European Union.
	The Animal Procedures Committee looked at the issue of the over-breeding of animals for use in scientific procedures as part of its 10-year review of the 1986 Act. The Committee defined "overbreeding" as "the production in breeding programmes of animals intended for use in scientific procedures but which prove to be unsuitable for such use or surplus to requirements". With the exception of genetically modified animals, the production of which is a regulated procedure, these animals are not recorded in the annual statistics on animal use under the 1986 Act since they are not used in regulated procedures. Estimates vary significantly as to the number of animals that may be involved. The Animal Procedures Committee concluded that although some overbreeding was unavoidable, it can and should be minimised and it recommended principles of best practice to help to achieve this. The Committee also undertook to liaise with the Laboratory Animal Science Association, which has also been considering the issue of overbreeding and how it can be minimised, to refine these principles before finalising its advice. I expect to receive the Committee's report by the summer and will carefully consider the further advice it provides.

Non-police Personnel

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he will inform the public of the allocation of the power to detain and use force to non-police personnel; what the projected cost is of providing this information; and if he will make a statement.

John Denham: Clause 35 (4) of the Police Reform Bill proposes that a police authority must include in their annual policing plan any proposals they have to employ, accredit or give powers to police support staff or members of Community Safety Accreditation Schemes. These plans are published.
	Under the Police Act 1996, police authorities are already required to issue an annual policing plan each year and, so, any additional information can be included in the plan at minimal cost.

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders were made in the West Midlands by constituency in the last 12 months.

John Denham: From 1 June 2000 official statistics on the number of anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued are based on quarterly returns from Magistrates' Courts Committees (MCCs) and are not presently designed to give figures below MCC level. The latest available data covers the period to the end of September 2001. In the 12 months ending September 2001, 37 ASBOs were issued within the West Midlands MCC area.

Project Sponsorship

Alan Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which of his Department's projects have received sponsorship since 1997, including (a) details of the sponsor, (b) the nature of the project, (c) the date of the project, (d) the total cost of the project and (e) the amount of money involved in the sponsorship deal.

Angela Eagle: holding answer 11 April 2002
	The information available on projects that have received sponsorship since 1997, including details of sponsor, nature and date of the project, total cost and the amount of money involved in the sponsorship deal is as follows:
	
		Project—Burglary Taskforce
		
			 Sponsor Sponsorship Value £ Total Cost £ Date 
		
		
			 British Gas 30,000* 2.25 million April 2000 
			 Electricity Association 30,000   
			 British Telecom 3,000   
			 Water United Kingdom 200,000   
		
	
	For further information, provided below are details for non-monetary sponsorships. The value of the sponsorship has been calculated as "added value" to the campaign. It is not cash received by the Home Office.
	
		Chip Pan Safety Campaign
		
			 Sponsor Sponsorship Value £ Total Cost £ Date 
		
		
			 B & Q 7,560 305,000 November 1997/ 
			 March 1998 
			 Tesco 5,693   
			 Moorhouses Brewery 6,600   
		
	
	
		Smoke Alarm Maintenance/Education/Awareness Campaign
		
			 Sponsor Sponsorship Value £ Total Cost £ Date 
		
		
			 Duracell 309,250 370,000 January 1999 
			 El Electronics 26,000   
			 Homebase 16,000   
			 Woolworths 6,000   
			 B & Q 5,000   
			 Focus Do It All 30,000   
			 Kidde Safety 11,500   
		
	
	
		National Chip Pan Campaign
		
			 Sponsor Sponsorship Value £ Total Cost Date 
		
		
			 First Alert 5,000 1.33 
			 million August/ 
			 September 1999 
			 Morphy Richards 10,775   
			 Comet 386,600   
			 Curry's (Dixons Group) 27,500   
		
	
	
		Escape Route Campaign
		
			 Sponsor Sponsorship Value £ Total Cost £ Date 
		
		
			 Safestyle UK plc 12,500 345,000 February 2000 
		
	
	
		National Escape Route
		
			 Sponsor Sponsorship Value £ Total Cost £ Date 
		
		
			 Comet 41,133 5 million September 2000 
			 First Alert 6,774   
			 BBC Worldwide 44,600   
			 GMTV 450,000   
			 El Electronics 31,390   
			 Homebase 9,000   
			 Woolworths 124,230   
			 B&Q 52,000   
		
	
	
		Vehicle Crime Reduction Campaign
		
			 Sponsor Sponsorship Value £ Total Cost £ Date 
		
		
			 RAC Auto  15.015 million July 2000 To date 
			 Windscreens 303,000   
			 RAC 180,000   
			 Lycos 29,000   
			 Kwik-Fit 130,000   
			 Ford 150,000   
			 Retainagroup 189,500   
			 Tracker 38,800   
			 NCP 40,000   
			 AA Insurance 180,500   
		
	
	
		Child Protection on the Internet
		
			 Sponsor Sponsorship Value £ Total Cost £ Date 
		
		
			 Bolt.com 19,000 1.1 million November 2001–March 2002 
			 Yahoo 22,000   
			 MSN 22,000

Premier Services

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the service agreement aspect of the contract with Premier Services can be placed in the public domain.

Angela Eagle: Yes. Those parts of the contract with Premier Services that are not commercially confidential or subject to the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1989 will be made available to the public. The service aspect of the contract will in due course be published on the Home Office website and copies placed in the Library.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will to reply to the letter to him dated 30 January from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Mr. Jawad Farooqi.

David Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 26 April 2002.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Tourism (National Insurance Contributions)

John Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the cost to the tourism industry of the proposed increase in employers' national insurance contributions.

Kim Howells: holding answer 29 April 2002
	It is estimated that the changes to employers' national insurance contributions announced in the Budget will increase pay costs on average by 0.7 per cent next year.

Fraud

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the estimated level of losses to fraud and corruption was in (a) her Department's Vote 1 budget and (b) her Department's Vote 2 budget for (i) 1999–2000 and (ii) 2000–01.

Kim Howells: In respect of the DCMS's Vote 1 budget, I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the right hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife on 14 January 2002. In respect of Vote 2, which relates to the BBC licence fee, for which the Department has responsibility to Parliament for balancing the grant voted to the BBC with the receipts received from the licence payers, there were no losses due to fraud or corruption in the years in question.

Digital Television

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage of the population in (a) the United Kingdom, (b) each United Kingdom region and (c) the High Peak constituency is able to receive a digital terrestrial television signal; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The percentage of population predicted to be able to receive a digital terrestrial signal in (a) the United Kingdom and (b) Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is as follows:
	
		
			  Homes covered (per cent) 
			  BBC Multiplex Digital 3 & 4 Multiplex Multiplex A Multiplex B Multiplex C Multiplex D Core 
		
		
			 UK (Current) 81 80 78 79 76 74 68 
			 Scotland (Launch) 84 83 82 81 82 80 78 
			 Wales (Launch) 62 60 62 59 55 55 42 
			 Northern Ireland (Launch) 72 72 64 66 72 58 57 
		
	
	Figures provided by the Independent Television Commission (comparable information for the English regions is not available).
	I understand from the Independent Television Commission that Digital Terrestrial Television signals from the Winter Hill, Sheffield, Chesterfield, and Emley Moor transmitters are predicted to be available to some areas of the High Peak constituency. Coverage maps are available on the Digital Television Group website: www.dtg.org.uk.

Digital Television

Tom Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures the Government will take to ensure that the quality of the analogue signal is maintained during digital roll-out; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The Government are committed to ensuring that terrestrial analogue signals will be maintained until everyone who can currently get the main public service broadcasting channels in analogue form can receive them on digital systems. The Independent Television Commission (ITC) require that any changes made by the broadcasters to the digital terrestrial television transmitter network conform with the ITC Code of Practice on Changes to Transmission and Reception Arrangements. This requires the continued reception of analogue services, to an acceptable technical quality, to those viewers affected by digital terrestrial services.

Culture Funding

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if the Government will take steps to increase funding for culture; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Caborn: In the context of the 2002 Spending Review, my Department and the Treasury are looking closely at current and future spending needs across all the cultural sectors. The outcome of the Review will be announced in July.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

EU Aid Budget

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she will take to improve the performance of the EU aid budget.

Clare Short: My Department published a revised strategy for improving the poor performance of the European Community development programme in August 2001. I welcome the positive steps that have recently been taken, including establishment for the first time of an EC Development Policy with poverty reduction as the central objective, streamlining of procedures and improvements in financial and staff management. The Commission are also delegating significant new responsibilities to their offices overseas in order to improve dialogue with developing country partners and cut delays. The Government is working with other member states, the Commission and the European Parliament to ensure that these measures begin to have an impact on the ground and allow the European Community to make a much more significant contribution to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. We are also working for agreement that a much greater share of EC aid should be allocated to low income countries where it will have the greatest impact on poverty reduction. In 2000, only 38 per cent of EC aid was spent in low income countries compared to 70 per cent in 1990. Our objective is to reverse this decline in order to secure radical improvement in the effectiveness of EC aid.

EU Aid Budget

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress is being made in reforming the EU aid budget.

Clare Short: My Department published a revised strategy for improving the poor performance of the European Community development programme in August 2001. We welcome the steps that have recently been taken, including establishment for the first time of an EC Development Policy with poverty reduction as the central objective, streamlining of procedures and improvements in financial and staff management. The Commission are also delegating significant new responsibilities to their offices overseas in order to improve dialogue with developing country partners and cut delays. The Government is working with other member states, the Commission and the European Parliament to ensure that these measures begin to have an impact on the ground and allow the European Community to make a much more significant contribution to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. We are also working for agreement that a much greater share of EC aid should be allocated to low income countries where it will have the greatest impact on poverty reduction. In 2000, only 38 per cent of EC aid was spent in low income countries compared to 70 per cent in 1990. Our objective is to reverse this decline in order to secure radical improvement in the effectiveness of EC aid.

Debt Relief

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress is being made on debt relief for poor countries.

Clare Short: So far, 26 out of a total of 42 countries have qualified for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, and by the autumn, Cote d'lvoire could be added to the list of countries benefiting from the Initiative. Relief of more than US $60 billion will be provided to these countries, reducing their debts by more than two-thirds on average. Of the 26 countries, 21 have reached Decision Point and are receiving interim debt relief on their "flow" of payment, and five have completed the HIPC process, and have received an irrevocable reduction in their stock of debt. We hope that a further three will reach their Completion Point this year. The prospects for the remaining eleven unsustainable countries are not good. Six—Burundi, Congo Republic, Liberia, Myanmar, Somalia and Sudan—are still affected by conflict; Togo has governance problems; Central African Republic, DR Congo and Comoros might go through next year; and Lao PDR is undecided as to whether to opt for HIPC relief. Angola, Kenya, Vietnam and Yemen are regarded as sustainable cases, eligible for relief from the Paris Club.

Commonwealth Development Corporation

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the performance of the Commonwealth Development Corporation against its objectives for 2001–02.

Clare Short: In 2001, CDC made £134 million of new investments, and met both its Investment Policy targets. Over the last five years, 83 per cent of CDC's new investments have been in the poorer developing countries, and last year 69 per cent of the new investments were in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Private equities and emerging markets all declined sharply in 2001, and CDC's portfolio valuation was reduced by 10.3 per cent. A copy of CDC's annual review and financial statement for 2001 has been placed in the Library.

Middle East

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what representations her Department has made to the Israeli Government to secure the safe access of the Palestinian civilian population to (a) clean water supplies, (b) working sanitation and (c) medical care; and if she will make a statement.

Clare Short: I refer the hon. Member to my Answer of 1 May 2002, Official Report, column 859W.

Zimbabwe

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the impact of the political instability in Zimbabwe on regional security.

Denis MacShane: I have been asked to reply.
	The situation in Zimbabwe is having a negative impact on Southern Africa. The crisis has increased levels of illegal immigration from Zimbabwe into neighbouring countries, created economic imbalances in border areas and, more generally, reduced investor confidence in the region. All of these threaten the stability and security of Southern Africa. Regional governments will need to remain closely involved in helping to secure a lasting solution to the crisis.

LORD CHANCELLOR

Official Visits

Don Foster: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department 
	(1)  if he will list the official visits to (a) Paris and (b) Brussels made by each Minister in his Department in 2001 and the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in his Department on the choice of mode of travel for such visits;
	(2)  if he will list the official visits within the UK outside London made by each Minister in his Department in 2001, giving for each (a) the origin and destination and (b) the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in his Department on choice of mode of travel for official visits.

Michael Wills: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 6 March (Hansard column reference 421W).

Census Online

Graham Brady: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department when the 1901 Census Online facility will be reinstated at the designated regional service centres.

Rosie Winterton: QinetiQ Ltd. is continuing to work on the technical enhancements. Once configuring of the technical enhancements is complete, rigorous testing will be undertaken on all aspects of the system. These enhancements are intended to make the site sufficiently robust to permit general Internet access, and are being done with a sense of urgency. Before the full Internet service is restored, it will be relaunched at the service centres as part of the testing programme; details of the relaunch will be available in due course.

Human Rights

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the terms of reference are for the quarterly plenary of human rights contacts in each department of Government; and if he will list the members of the body.

Michael Wills: These are informal meetings of human rights contacts in all the main Whitehall Departments. Our aims are to:
	collect systematically examples of the impact of the Act on policy and practice in public authorities, in particular Government departments;
	to disseminate and promote good practice and raise awareness amongst public authorities; and
	to maintain and update a list of "notable cases" which illustrate important themes.
	There are currently 26 contacts, all of whom are invited to the quarterly meetings.

Criminal Courts

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what recent steps the Government have taken to renovate the criminal courts.

Michael Wills: The Court Service is currently undertaking a major Courts and Tribunals Modernisation Programme, an important part of which is aimed at improving the use of technology in the criminal courts. This includes the introduction of digital audio recording of court proceedings, expansion of TV links for vulnerable witnesses and links to local prisons, and the installation of IT equipment in court for the electronic presentation of evidence.
	The Court Service undertakes general improvements to the criminal courts as part of major maintenance schemes according to priorities and funding. At the moment it is also in the second year of a three-year programme of improvement works to comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995).
	Renovations and modernisation initiatives in the magistrates' courts are bid for by individual Magistrates' Court Committees and Local Authorities and are funded from the Department's Capital Grant allocation.

Magistrates' Court Service

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what budget was of the Magistrates' Court Service in each year since 1997.

Michael Wills: The Lord Chancellor's Department provides separate grants for revenue and capital (buildings and IT) to local authorities for magistrates' courts costs. Grant is paid at 80 per cent of the costs, with the remaining 20 per cent met by local authorities. The total revenue and capital grant budget made available to the Magistrates' Courts Service since 1997, including the local authorities' 20 per cent contribution, is as follows:
	
		
			  
		
		
			  £ million 
			 1997–98 340.70 
			 1998–99 354.40 
			 1999–00 361.90 
			 2000–01 362.24 
			 2001–02 405.54 
			 2002–03 419.89

Unpaid Fines

Colin Pickthall: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what the level of unpaid fines is at Merseyside Magistrates Courts.

Michael Wills: Magistrates' Courts Committees have responsibility for the collection of a range of debts imposed through the courts, including not only fines but also fees, compensation, confiscation orders, legal aid contributions and some maintenance orders. It is not possible to separate out just the fines from the total.
	The total amount of money owed to the Merseyside courts at the end of December 2001 was £25,799,445. This figure includes impositions where deferred payment was allowed and where instalments were not yet due.

Unpaid Fines

Colin Pickthall: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what plans his Department has to reduce the number of unpaid fines in England and Wales.

Michael Wills: Lead responsibility for execution of financial penalty warrants was transferred from the police to the Magistrates' Courts Committees on 1 April 2001. No targets were set for execution of these warrants during the first year of operation to enable baseline data to be collected.
	On 28 February the Lord Chancellor announced challenging targets for Magistrates' Courts Committees for 2002–03 for enforcement of both financial and non-financial penalties. I refer the hon. Member to the Reply which I gave on that day to my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac), Official Report, column 1554W.

Public Records

Norman Baker: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if her policy not to release into the public domain records which may embarrass living persons also applies to the impact of such releases on institutions.

Rosie Winterton: Records may be closed longer than thirty years under section 5(1) of the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended in 1967) with the permission of the Lord Chancellor. If records are to remain closed, they must satisfy the criteria for extended closure set out in the Open Government White Paper (Cm2290, July 1993). This does not allow for records to be closed if they may cause embarrassment, whether to an individual or an institution.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Small and Medium Enterprises

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures the Government have taken since 1997 to reduce regulations affecting small and medium enterprises.

Nigel Griffiths: Among the actions being taken to relieve the burden of regulation on SMEs are:
	Measures to simplify the VAT regime for 700,000 businesses.
	Measures to exempt up to 30,000 small shops from the new EU unit pricing requirements.
	Measures to relieve up to 150,000 small firms from the burden of statutory audit, saving small companies up to £180 million a year.
	A 12 weeks period between regulations being agreed and implemented, allowing SMEs time to adapt to the new regulations.
	Measures to exempt employers with 4 or fewer employees from the requirements to provide access to stakeholder pensions and deduct pension contributions.
	Measures to ensure that the view of small business influenced Patrick Carter's review of payroll administration, a copy of which is in the Libraries of the House.
	In addition the Business Link Website is now attracting 80,000 users per month—and businesses can register to receive alerts about regulation automatically.
	Measures through Business Links to assist and support 6000 individuals wanting to start and grow a business and helped a further 6000 with mentoring advice.

Middle East

Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what favourable trading terms accrue to Israel through its agreements with the European Union.

Patricia Hewitt: There is reciprocal free trade under the EU/Israel Association Agreement. Subject to the terms of that Agreement, manufactured goods may be traded in each direction free of duties and quotas and there are also preferences on agricultural products.

Middle East

Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what trading benefits accrue to (a) Israeli settlers in the occupied territories and (b) the Palestinian Authority through agreements with the European Union.

Patricia Hewitt: The trading benefits of the EU/Israel Association Agreement apply to goods originating in the European Union and the State of Israel. The UK, along with the rest of our EU partners and the wider international community, does not consider the Occupied Territories to be covered by the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The EU has insisted in its discussions with the Israeli authorities that the territorial scope of the EU-Israel Association Agreement must be respected. In this respect, the European Commission published in November 2001 a notice to importers in the Official Journal of the European Communities alerting EU importers to the ineligibility of products originating in the Occupied Territories for the preferences provided under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
	Under the terms of the 1997 Interim Association Agreement between the EU and the Palestine Liberation Organisation for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority, industrial goods from the territory of the Palestinian Authority enter the EU duty and quota free. There are also preferences on agricultural products. Unlike the arrangements with Israel however there is no requirement for the Palestinian Authority to offer reciprocal market access for EU goods.

Export Credits Guarantee Department

Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which United Kingdom companies the ECGD (a) is supporting or (b) has previously supported regarding (i) the Manban power plant and (ii) the transmission networks associated with the Manban power plant in the Philippines.

Patricia Hewitt: ECGD has not provided any support nor has it received any applications or enquiries from any UK company in respect of the Manban power plant and/or the associated transmission networks.

Engineering

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what meetings her Department has had with senior officers of engineering institutions since January 2000.

Alan Johnson: The information is not held centrally and therefore could only be collected at a disproportionate cost.

Mobile Phone Shields

Gillian Merron: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the report on mobile phone shields will be published.

Douglas Alexander: Following the Government response to the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones chaired by Sir William Stewart in May 2000, the Department commissioned independent tests on mobile phone shielding devices. A copy of the test report has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Employment Law

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from small businesses regarding the implementation of employment law introduced since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Alan Johnson: Ministers regularly meet small firms and their representatives to discuss a range of issues, including employment law.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Zimbabwe

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contingency plans have been made to rescue British passport holders who may flee over the borders of Zimbabwe in the event of a humanitarian crisis.

Ben Bradshaw: There are approximately 26,000 British nationals registered with the British High commission in Harrare. We have a civil contingency plan for Zimbabwe, as we do for many other countries. This is kept under constant review. Any evacuation would be a last resort and by whatever means available at that time.

Data Protection Act

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will place in the Library copies of each version of the internal guidance which have been drawn up by his Department since 1 January 1999 to assist staff in his Department to answer subject access requests under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Denis MacShane: Since 1 January 1999, two versions of internal guidance have been drawn up by the FCO. A booklet, "A Guide to The Data Protection Act 1998" was issued in June 2000. This has been superseded by guidance made available to staff in December 2001. Section 3 of this guidance deals with answers to subject access requests. I have arranged for a copy of both the booklet and Section 3 of the guidance to be placed in the House Library. A revised version of the guidance will be prepared for inclusion in the FCO's Publication Scheme, which is required by the Freedom of Information Act to be in place in November 2002.

Taiwan

Jimmy Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last met representatives from Taiwan; and what was discussed.

Denis MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had no official meetings with representatives of Taiwan.

Kashmir

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent meetings he has held relating to the conflict in Kashmir; and if he will make a statement on UN resolutions in respect of Kashmir.

Ben Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs discussed Kashmir with his Pakistani counterpart Abdul Sattar on 19 April, and his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh on 16 April. EU Foreign Ministers also discussed Kashmir on 13 April. It is possible for both India and Pakistan to claim the support of various international and bilateral agreements. The crucial point is that the issue can be resolved only by bilateral negotiations between India and Pakistan.

Ministerial Meetings

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many First Secretaries (Immigration) he has met since 7 June.

Ben Bradshaw: We currently have three full time First Secretaries (Immigration): they are located in Lagos, New Delhi and Islamabad. Since taking up office on 7 June 2001 my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has met the First Secretaries (Immigration in Islamabad and New Delhi and I have met the First Secretary (Immigration) in New Delhi. Both my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I make a point of trying to meet a wide cross-section of staff working in our overseas posts. As Minister responsible for entry clearance I try to visit Visa Sections wherever possible and meet UK based and locally engaged staff working in them.

Middle East

Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take on the Middle East crisis with his European partners.

Ben Bradshaw: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is in constant contact with his European counterparts about the crisis in the Middle East. He agreed with our EU partners that the High Representative Javier Solana would represent the EU at the Ministerial meeting of the Quartet, (the UN, the US, the EU and Russia) on 2 May. The Quartet agreed that a comprehensive approach, including security, political and economic agendas, is needed to solve the current situation, including the rebuilding of the Palestinian security sector to achieve an end to the violence, humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians affected by the conflict; and support for the institutional and economic reconstruction of the Palestinian Authority. The Quartet agreed to work together in order to convene an international conference on the Middle East in the summer. The EU is committed to the implementation of the agenda agreed by the Quartet. The Foreign Secretary will consider the Middle East with his EU counterparts at the meeting of the General Affairs Council on 13 May.

Middle East

Tony Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking to ensure that Israel complies with its obligations under the 4 Geneva Convention.

Ben Bradshaw: The UK and EU partners reaffirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem, at the reconvened conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention in Geneva on 5 December 2001. In the Conference Declaration we called upon all parties to respect, and to ensure respect for, the Geneva Conventions in all circumstances.
	Israel, like all states, has the right to defend itself against terrorism, which the UK Government condemns absolutely. However, as my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has made clear, Israel must respect international law, including international humanitarian law. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have raised our concerns with the Israeli Prime Minister and the Israeli Foreign Minister about extra judicial killings, the closures, the denial of access for humanitarian and medical agencies to those in need, and allegations of misconduct by IDF troops. It is in Israel's own interest to respond positively and comply with its obligations.

Iran

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with Russia concerning the proliferation of nuclear technology from that country to Iran; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: We continue to be concerned by reports that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme. We take every appropriate opportunity with the Russian Government to raise the issue of the transfer of nuclear technology and expertise to Iran.

Belorussian Government

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Belorussian Government about the meeting between President Lukashenko and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Iraq Hikmat al-Azawi in Minsk on 19 March 2001; what reports he has received about the (a) aim and (b) outcome of the meeting; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: We have not received any reports about the aims or outcome of the 19 March 2001 meeting between Belarusian President Lukashenko and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hikmat al-Azawi. We have made clear to the Belarusian Government that we expect it to observe all international sanctions in place against Iraq.

Gibraltar

Richard Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Spanish proposal in the Brussels process that Gibraltar could have autonomous city status.

Peter Hain: Discussions under the Brussels Process are aimed at overcoming all the differences between the UK and Spain over Gibraltar, including on issues of sovereignty. Discussions have not included proposals that Gibraltar could have autonomous city status.

Gibraltar

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made on the aim of resolving the status of Gibraltar before the summer.

Peter Hain: Talks under the Brussels Process are continuing. I met my Spanish counter part in London on 9 May. We had a friendly and constructive meeting, though substantial difficulties remain. We remain committed to reaching an agreement if possible. The Foreign Secretary will meet the Spanish Foreign Minister next week to discuss Gibraltar among other issues.

TREASURY

Pensioners (Income Tax)

Tom Cox: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many pensioners living in England and Wales are paying income tax on their incomes.

Dawn Primarolo: It is estimated that 4.5 million, out of 10.8 million, pensioners in the UK paid income tax on their incomes in 2001–02.
	Pensioners are defined as women aged 60 and over and men aged 65 and over. The figures are based upon the Survey of Personal Incomes and are consistent with the 2002 Budget.

House Sales (Revenue)

Mike Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue was received from house sales in the United Kingdom; and what proportion was received from rural areas in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Ruth Kelly: Information on stamp duty receipts attributable to residential property transactions for the years 1991–92 to 1994–95 is given in table 15.3 of Inland Revenue Statistics 1997, and equivalent figures for 1995–96 to 2000–01 are available on the Inland Revenue website at http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/ stats/stamp duty/sd t02 1.htm.
	Corresponding information specifically for rural areas is not available.

Tax Credits

David Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the estimates are of take-up of tax credits underlying his figures for the effects of personal tax and benefit reforms on page 90 of the Red Book.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to paragraph 3.2 of "The Child and Working Tax Credits. Modernisation of Britain's Tax and Benefit System" (April 2002), a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Chernobyl

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what land acreage is covered by restrictions imposed in 1986 following the Chernobyl accident.

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
	The following tables show the acreage of the restricted area, and numbers of sheep under restrictions arising from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. The figures are presented for England, Wales and Scotland. The last restrictions in place in Northern Ireland were removed in April 2000.
	
		Restrictions in 1986
		
			  England Wales Scotland Total 
		
		
			 Acreage 469,737 1,013,110 1,853,250 3,336,097 
			 Sheep 867,000 2,000,000 1,358,000 4,225,000 
		
	
	
		Restrictions as of January 2002
		
			  England Wales Scotland Total 
		
		
			 Acreage 29,899 130,963 44,478 205,340 
			 Sheep 11,500 180,000 38,000 229,500

HEALTH

Defibrillators

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new automated defibrillators have been installed in public places.

Yvette Cooper: Since its launch in April 2000 the defibrillators in public places programme has seen 486 automated external defibrillator devices installed at a total of 65 sites across England, including airports, main-line railway stations, and bus and coach stations. Action is continuing to install defibrillators at further sites.

Private Finance Initiative

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the total savings to public funds of the Private Finance Initiative contract for the Black Country Mental Health NHS Trust by comparison with a non-Private Finance Initiative alternative;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the total savings to public funds of the Private Finance Initiative contract for the Bucknall Hospital Psychiatric Unit for the North Staffordshire Combined Health Care NHS Trust by comparison with a non-Private Finance Initiative alternative;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the total savings to public funds of the Private Finance Initiative contract for Monyhull for the South Birmingham Mental Health NHS Trust by comparison with a non-Private Finance Initiative alternative.

Yvette Cooper: The business case justifying the individual schemes estimating the net savings in present value terms (i.e. all future costs and benefits discounted to their present values) compared with publicly funding the scheme is shown in the table.
	
		Annual Equivalent Costs of PSC v. PFI Option
		
			  
		
		
			 NHS TRUST PFI 
			 £000s 
			  Public 
			 £000s 
			  Savings 
			 in EAC 
			 terms 
			 £000s per cent 
			 Difference 
			 North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare 26,608 26,663 55 0.20 
			 South Birmingham Mental Health 2,336 2,364 28 1.18 
			 Black Country Mental Health 4,099 4,099.5 0.5 0.01

Private Finance Initiative

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the total savings to public funds of the Private Finance Initiative contract for the Standard Court Health Authority headquarters for the Nottingham Health Authority by comparison with a non-Private Finance Initiative alternative.

Jacqui Smith: The business case justifying this scheme estimating the net savings in present value terms (i.e. all future costs and benefits discounted to their present values) compared with publicly funding the scheme is shown in the table.
	
		Net Present Costs of PSC v. PFI Option
		
			  
		
		
			 Scheme PFI 
			 £000s Public 
			 £000s Savings 
			 in net 
			 present 
			 value 
			 terms 
			 £000s 
			  per cent 
			 Difference 
			 Nottingham Health Authority 2801 3408 607 17.8 
			 Headquarters–Standard Court 
		
	
	Published guidance on public sector comparators notes that: "Accounting Officers should not rely solely on a straight comparison of a PFI bid to its PSC, which should never be regarded as a pass/fail test but instead as a quantitative way of informing judgement". (Treasury Taskforce Technical Note No. 5: How to construct a public sector comparator.)

Mental Health

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the average waiting time for a residential place with 24-hour staffing for a mental health patient in London.

Jacqui Smith: The Department does not collect this information. However, the NHS Plan commitment to create an additional 320 24-hour staffed beds across the country by April 2001 was achieved and returns indicate that a substantial number of these were in the London Region. It is anticipated that this increase will have reduced waiting times for places.

Mental Health

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the funding for the present year for (a) hospital and residential mental care and (b) day and community care, in mental health in London; how much funding for each category has increased since 1997; and what his Department estimates is the shortfall in provision in the capital, in both categories, in terms of both places and funding.

Jacqui Smith: Health authorities and primary care trusts receive the majority of their funding through unified allocations. Since 1997, total National Health Service expenditure has increased by almost 36 per cent in real terms, with net capital expenditure more than doubling in real terms.
	In general, funding for specific services are not identified separately, in order to allow health authorities and PCTs to be able to manage flexibly the resources available to them.
	Allocations specifically identified in Health Authority baselines for mental health since 1997 include:
	£10.6 million nationally (£3.6 million in London) from the mental health challenge fund allocated recurrently in 1997–98;
	£20 million nationally (£5 million in London) from the modernisation fund allocated recurrently in 1999–2000;
	£42 million nationally (£37 million adult mental health and £5 million child and adolescent mental health) from the modernisation fund allocated recurrently in 2000–01;
	£75 million nationally (£12.5 million in London) earmarked specifically for mental health in 2002–03.
	A detailed breakdown of funding for hospital, residential, day and community mental health care is not available in the format required for the current year or from 1997. Similarly detailed information on the provision in terms of the number of places and funding is not available.

Myotonic Dystrophy

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the numbers of people with myotonic dystrophy; and if he will make a statement.

Jacqui Smith: We have made no assessment of the numbers of people with myotonic dystrophy, as information on the prevalence of individual conditions is not collected centrally. We do have some data on hospital activity as shown in the table below.
	
		Admissions for myotonic disorders -- NHS Hospitals, England 1996–97 to 2000–01
		
			  
		
		
			 1996–97 251 
			 1997–98 253 
			 1998–99 301 
			 1999–00 316 
			 2000–01 299 
		
	
	Please note that these figures are a count of in-patient admissions and therefore do not represent the number of patients. Data in this table are adjusted for both coverage and unknown/invalid clinical data, except for 2000–01 which are not yet adjusted for shortfalls.

Care Standards (Older People)

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many structures identifying nursing leaders with responsibility for older people have been developed as part of the milestones set out in the National Service Framework for Older People, page 172;
	(2)  how many strategic and operational plans, including initial action to address identified age discrimination, he (a) has received and (b) expects to receive as part of the milestones set out in the National Service Framework for Older People, page 172;
	(3)  which general hospitals have (a) submitted and (b) not submitted plans to introduce a specialised stroke unit by 2004 as part of the milestones set out in the National Service Framework for Older People; and what steps he proposes to take against those general hospitals that have failed to produce these plans;
	(4)  how many (a) specialist multidisciplinary teams and (b) interfaces for care for older people throughout hospitals have been identified as part of the milestones set out in the National Service Framework for Older People, page 172.

Jacqui Smith: Information about progress against the April 2002 milestones set within the national service framework for older people will be available in the summer.
	Following the October 2001 milestone on the audit of age-related policies, we sought information about the results of the audits. An interim report on the results is available on the National Service Framework website (www.doh.gov.uk/nsf/olderpeople.htm). All health organisations which had identified written age-related policies without an evidence base indicated that they would be reviewing those policies.

Severalls Hospital

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the sale of the former Severalls Hospital in Colchester.

Yvette Cooper: The sale of the first phase of parcels of land in Colchester, near to the Severalls Hospital has been completed. A second phase is now on the market. Further phases have been included as part of a proposed one-off sale to achieve the NHS Plan's objective of the sale of surplus property to fund the NHS modernisation programme. Offers for these later phases are due to be received shortly and it is expected their sale will be completed in autumn 2002.
	The Department's officials are continuing to work closely with the local planning authority regarding the development proposals for the site.

Illegal Food Imports

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to introduce public notification of proscribed foodstuffs at ports of entry into the United Kingdom.

Yvette Cooper: I am advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that existing controls under European Union harmonised legislation require prior notification to the enforcement authorities of imports of products of animal origin from third countries. Food which is not of animal origin entering the United Kingdom from third countries is not generally subject to prior notification. Food safety checks are however made under Great Britain's Imported Food Regulations 1997 and their equivalent in Northern Ireland on the basis of risk assessment by local food authorities at the point of entry to the UK. Local authorities can refuse entry or arrange destruction of foods that do not meet the UK's requirements. Food coming to the UK from other EU Member States is in free circulation within the EU and is not subject to routine checks at UK ports.
	The Board of the FSA has asked its officials to review the import controls on food which is not of animal origin including the question of prior notification. In doing so, the FSA will take account of the development of EU proposals to establish a Community framework for official controls on food and animal feed which may include a proposal for pre-notification of imports of food of non animal origin.

NHS Cancer Plan

Evan Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consultations he undertook before adopting the two week wait target for cancer diagnosis in the NHS Cancer Plan.

Yvette Cooper: The White Paper "The new NHS—Modern, Dependable" published in December 1997 set the cancer specific waiting time standard that everyone with suspected cancer will be able to see a specialist within two weeks of their general practitioner (GP) deciding that they need to be seen urgently and requesting an appointment. These arrangements were guaranteed for everyone with suspected breast cancer from April 1999 and for all other suspected cancers from 2000 and was based on evidence that delays in access to cancer services is a factor in poor cancer survival rates.
	To support implementation of the standard, the Department set up a steering group of medical professionals, chaired by Professor Mike Richards. This steering group developed guidance for GPs to enable them to identify the symptoms and indications of cancer for early referral of patients with suspected cancer to a specialist.

Respiratory Syncitial Virus

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many cases of respiratory syncitial virus requiring hospital admission there have been in the last three years in the Portsmouth Health Authority, broken down by age; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the cost of treating infants suffering from respiratory syncitial virus infection in terms of (a) hospital stays and (b) intensive care unit stays in the Portsmouth Primary Care Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: Figures for respiratory diseases with a subsidiary classification of respiratory syncitial virus for patients resident in the Portsmouth health authority area were very small and cannot be released for reasons of patient confidentiality. The table below contains a count of all admissions to National Health Service hospitals in England for patients resident in the south-east region.
	
		
			  Age 
			  0–4 Over 4 Total 
		
		
			 Year
			 1998–99 105 0 105 
			 1999–00 32 0 32 
			 2000–01 32 2 34 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. These figures do not represent the number of patients as a person may be admitted more than once during the year
	2. Data in this table are adjusted for both coverage and unknown/invalid clinical data, except for 2000–01 which are not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
	Source:
	Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Department of Health
	Costs associated with admission vary significantly with severe cases requiring paediatric intensive care, assisted ventilation and specialised interventions. Information on the cost of these admissions is not collected centrally.

Respiratory Syncitial Virus

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the need for guidance to be issued to parents about the risk to premature babies of respiratory syncitial virus; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: Parents of premature babies that are at risk from respiratory syncitial virus infection receive guidance from their doctor before leaving hospital. General written guidance is also provided to parents before they take their baby home, on the recognition of illness, the awareness of the risks of infection in babies and contact points in the event their child appears to be unwell.
	The national service framework for children is a forthcoming comprehensive opportunity to review what guidance and information is given to parents, and parents to be, about the health of their children.

Direct Payments Scheme

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department collates on the rate of take up of direct payments under the direct payments scheme in each local authority area.

Jacqui Smith: Data are collected annually from councils on the number of people receiving direct payments and the gross expenditure on those payments. The Social Services Inspectorate has obtained further information through the performance monitoring of local councils.

Kidderminster Hospital

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will restore Kidderminster Hospital's status.

Yvette Cooper: A range of services, for a variety of patients, remain and continue to be developed at Kidderminster.
	In May last year my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, announced that the Government would establish an independent clinical review of future elective services at Kidderminster Hospital. The review resulted from the new opportunity presented by the planned increase in elective surgery arising from implementation of the NHS Plan. The review recommended that the hospital should carry out a wider variety of common operations, including tonsillectomies, gall bladder operations and more procedures on eyes, and ear, nose and throat surgery. We agreed with these conclusions and acted upon them.
	In addition, a £13 million Ambulatory Care Centre is being developed at Kidderminster Hospital which due to be completed in 2003, and Worcestershire's new £87 million acute hospital opened in April 2002 incorporating state of the art facilities benefiting patients from across Worcestershire and beyond.

Hospital-acquired Infection

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have died as a result of hospital-acquired infection in (a) the most recent year for which figures are available and (b) each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: There are no centrally held statistics on deaths caused by healthcare acquired infections (HAI), including Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
	MRSA infection can take many forms, from trivial skin infection to pneumonia or septicaemia. Often the causative micro-organism is not specified on the death certificate. MRSA does not have a distinct code within the revision of the International Classification of Diseases used for encoding death registration data at the Office for National Statistics.

Hospital-acquired Infection

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost to the NHS of hospital-acquired infection in (a) each of the last five years and (b) the most recent year for which figures are available.

Yvette Cooper: Tackling hospital acquired infection (HAI) underpins the priorities in the NHS plan and a number of initiatives are underway to reduce HAI. However, costs of activity to prevent HAI are impossible to assess because much of this activity is a fundamental part of the work of healthcare staff.

Hospital-acquired Infection

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what monitoring is undertaken by his Department of National Health Service trusts' infection control policies; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: New standards (controls assurance) on infection control were issued in 1999 (and updated in 2001). We have asked the Commission for Health Improvement to independently review and monitor compliance with the national infection control standard for acute trusts during their routine clinical governance reviews. Monitoring arrangements will be covered in the targeted action plan for healthcare associated infections that will be produced later this year as part of "Getting ahead of the curve" our strategy to combat infectious disease.

Genetic Testing Kits

Andrew Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the health consequences of the sale of genetic testing kits to the public;
	(2)  what plans he has to regulate the sale of genetic testing kits;
	(3)  what assessment has been made of the voluntary system of regulation for commercially available genetic testing kits.

Yvette Cooper: Genetic testing kits that are placed on the market and fall within the definition of an in vitro diagnostic medical device (IVD) will be regulated by the IVD Regulations (SI2000 No 1315) which came into force on 7 June 2000 and has a transition period until 7 December 2003.
	The Department has published two voluntary codes of practice and guidance for genetic tests being sold directly to the public. These set out broad requirements in areas such as: peer-reviewed evidence of value, accreditation and quality assurance in testing laboratories, consent, confidentiality, sample and information storage, and customer information.
	Under the "Code of Practice and Guidance on Human Genetic Testing Services Supplied Direct to the Public" (September 1997) suppliers notify the human genetics commission (HGC) of their proposed service and HGC publishes a statement of conformance with the Code.
	In addition, those supplying genetic paternity testing services are expected to comply with the "Code of Practice and Guidance on Genetic Paternity Testing Services" (March 2001). All Government and public bodies commissioning paternity testing services are expected, so far as is practical, to ensure that those supplying services comply with this Code.
	The HGC is the Government's strategic advisory body on how new developments in human genetics will impact on people and on health care, with a particular focus on social and ethical aspects. We have asked the HGC to conduct a thorough review of the whole issue of genetic testing services offered directly to the public, including the voluntary system of regulation, and to report with their recommendations by the end of this year.

World Health Organisation Report

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the World Health Organisation report on macroeconomics and health, published on 20 December 2001, in respect of its implications for his Department's policies.

Yvette Cooper: The World Health Organisation's report of the commission on macroeconomics and health focuses mainly on low-income countries and on the poor in middle-income countries. Its key conclusions on the important linkage of health to poverty reduction, the importance of investment in health care systems and the impact of other sectors on health status are reflected in our own policy of investing in the National Health Service, and in our cross-sectoral work on tackling health inequalities.

Working Together Safeguards Guidance

Debra Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many case reviews following serious or fatal abuse under the Working Together Safeguards Guidance have been held in each of the last five years; how many in each year involved (a) child deaths, (b) serious physical assaults, (c) serious sexual abuse and (d) serious neglect; and if he will indicate in each the (i) age and (ii) sex of the children concerned.

Jacqui Smith: Complete statistical information is not currently collected centrally on the numbers or types of serious case reviews that have been carried out in accordance with Chapter 8 of Working Together to Safeguard Children (1999).
	However, many findings from serious case reviews can serve as an important source of information to inform policy and practice at both national and local levels. In recognition of this, the Department is responsible for identifying and disseminating common themes and trends across review reports, and acting on lessons for policy and practice. We will shortly be publishing an overview report drawing out the key findings of a selection of case reviews from the last two years, and their implications for policy and practice. At the same time, we have recently launched a new comprehensive database, which will in future hold information about all serious case reviews.

Non-human Primates

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the potential health hazards posed to humans by the import and use of non-human primates in the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 10 May 2002
	There is a statutory obligation under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations placed upon employers importing and using non-human primates to assess the potential health risks of their activities to both their employees and to others who might be affected by their undertaking. The potential risks will vary according to the different purposes the primates are being used for and the origin of the primate.
	Guidance was issued in 1997 from the advisory committee on dangerous pathogens (ACDP), in consultation with the Health and Safety Executive, entitled "Working safely with research animals: Management of infection risks". This summarises the infection risks to humans posed by non-human primates most commonly used in research.
	Further supplementary guidance entitled "Working safely with simians: Management of infection risks" was issued by the ACDP in 1998 addressing the particular risks posed to those working with simians (apes and monkeys). This guidance revised and updated earlier guidance on infections associated with simians first issued by the Medical Research Council in 1985, revised in 1990.

Cancer

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the average cost of (a) chemotherapy, (b) radiotherapy and, (c) aggregated medical costs in relation to the treatment of patients suffering brain cancers.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 16 April 2002
	This information is not available. Calculations of the average costs of radiotherapy for brain tumours range from £386 per patient to £1,605 per patient.

National Service Frameworks

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of health service spending in 2002–03 is covered by national service frameworks.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 18 April 2002
	This information is not available from routine data. We have estimated that the expenditure on heart disease, cancer, diabetes, renal disease, and mental health (for under 65s) is around 15 per cent of the total National Health Service and personal social services expenditure.

Activa Brain Stimulators

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the policy of the NHS is on providing operations to implant Activa brain stimulators; and how many such operations have been performed, and where, in the last 12 months.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 29 April 2002
	Trials are underway to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of deep brain stimulation. The trials commenced in 2001 and will run for five years. In the 12 months to April 2002 there were 165 implants of Activa brain stimulators. However, approximately 10 per cent of these were replacement batteries. The hospitals where the operations were performed are as follows:
	Charing Cross, London
	King's College, London
	Royal, London
	Ninewells, Dundee
	Frenchay, Bristol
	General, Newcastle
	Queen Elizabeth, Birmingham
	Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford
	Walton Centre for Neurology and Neuorosurgery, Liverpool
	General Infirmary, Leeds
	Hope, Manchester
	Source: Medtronic Limited, Watford, England. Activa stimulators are made by Medtronic.

Hepatitis C

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with hepatitis C in the United Kingdom in the last 12 months.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 29 April 2002
	There were 4515 antibody positive hepatitis C laboratory diagnoses in England in 2001 reported to the Public Health Laboratory Service (provisional figure). Information about hepatitis C diagnoses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can be obtained from the respective devolved administrations.

Scanners

Michael Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish details of the criteria to be used in order to make the next allocations of CT and MRI scanners.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 2 May 2002
	Consultations regarding criteria for the allocation of 50 additional computed tomography and 50 additional magnetic resonance imaging scanners, as outlined in the NHS Cancer Plan, have already begun involving regions and the cancer networks and are being extended to include the new strategic health authorities.
	One of the factors in establishing criteria for the allocation of additional equipment will be the relative provision of CT and MRI services to the population served. Work has already been carried out to assess this and the consultation process is now allowing these data to be verified at a local level.
	Efficiency of use of existing scanners is also a factor when considering additional allocations of equipment.
	It is expected that criteria will be published early in the summer as soon as discussions are completed, to be followed by the list of agreed allocations to individual hospitals later in the summer.

Food Supplements

Colin Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a further statement on the proposals in the European Food Supplements Directive relating to (a) the removals of certain minerals from free sale, (b) the removal of certain nutrient forms from free sale and (c) the setting of maximum permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 9 May 2002
	The coming into force of the directive will not immediately remove any products already on the UK market. Lists of permitted vitamin and mineral sources remain open pending safety assessments for additional substances. The Government intends, when implementing the directive, to take full advantage of the opportunity we have secured for EU Member States to allow continued sale for up to seven years of products containing vitamin and mineral sources not yet on permitted lists.
	During negotiations, the Food Standards Agency argued strongly that maximum permitted levels should be established on the basis of scientific risk assessment. Maximum levels will eventually be decided on the basis of recommendations made by the independent EU Scientific Committee on Food (SCF). The agency is now making strenuous efforts to forge strong links between the SCF and the UK's Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals which is already in the process of carrying out similar assessments.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Rural Awareness

Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  when his Department will establish rural targets and monitoring as part of overall rural proofing measures as set out in the Countryside Agency's report Rural Proofing in 2001–02;
	(2)  when his Department will introduce measures to raise rural awareness through staff (a) training, (b) development and (c) secondments as part of overall rural proofing measures as set out in the Countryside Agency's report, Rural Proofing in 2001–02.

Christopher Leslie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael) on the 9 May 2002, Official report, columns 273–74W.

Civil Service

Ian Davidson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what monitoring of recruitment and promotion within the civil service is undertaken of the (a) social and (b) educational backgrounds of successful candidates; and if he will make a statement.

Christopher Leslie: The Civil Service aims to attract applicants from a diverse range of candidates. It does not monitor the social or educational backgrounds of successful candidates it recruits, nor for those recruited to the Senior Civil Service.
	The Civil Service Fast Stream does, however, monitor applicants by university of first degree and this information is published annually in the Fast Stream Recruitment Report. The report is available in the library of both Houses and on the internet at www.faststream.gov.uk. Fast Stream applicants are not monitored by social background.

Civil Service

Teddy Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the percentage increases in Civil Service pensions in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002; and on what basis the increases are calculated.

Christopher Leslie: Civil Service pensions, like other public service pensions, are increased each year after the Pensions Increase (Review) Order has been laid before Parliament by HM Treasury.
	The pensions are increased by the same percentage as the increase in the additional component of the State Earnings Related Pension (SERPS) under section 59 of the Social Security Act 1975 (as amended).
	This increase is calculated by reference to the all items increase in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) in the last 12 months to September of the previous year.
	The increase is applied in April each year.
	The increases for the last three financial years are as follows:
	1.1 per cent
	3.3 per cent
	1.7 per cent